by Rebecca Harms, Native Plant Class 2002
Common names: Cattail, Common cattail, Broadleaf cattail
Family: Typhaceae
Synonymy: None
Etymology: The epithet latifolia means broadleafed.

Identification
Growth form: Cattail is a semi-aquatic herb growing to 3 m in height.
Roots: Roots are thick, white, fleshy rhizomes found 7-12 cm below the soil surface. They can grow up to 80 cm in length and 1-3 cm in diameter (6). Cattail rhizomes are commonly used for vegetative reproduction (1).
Stem: Stems are tall, simple, and green, ending in a spike.
Leaves: Leaves are alternate and tightly clasping at the base, simple, linear, stiff, flat, erect, and reed-like to 3 m in length and 5 cm in width.
Inflorescence/flowers: Female flowers are clustered on a cylindrical, brown, sausage-shaped terminal spike consisting of tiny very dense flowers. Contiguous to this inflorescence are paler male flowers on a narrower spike above.
Fruit: The fruit is a very small nutlet on a pedicel. Nutlets bear clavate bristles that create a copious down. Each spike may contain 117,000-268,000 nutlets (8).
Similar species: Typha domingensis has narrower leaves (less than 1 cm wide) than Typha latifolia and has an interval of 1-4 cm between male and female inflorescences. T. domingensis is found between 1000-5500 feet in our area. Hybridization is common among cattail species in regions where they overlap (7).

Ecology
Life history: Cattail is a perennial and may for extensive colonies or clones.
Native/introduced: Native
Photosynthetic pathway: C3 (4)
Phenology: In northern Arizona, cattail flowers from June to August (3).
Distribution: Cosmopolitan except for South America; in marshy areas in shallow water, in ponds, and at the edges of lakes (6). In northern Arizona cattail is found
in all counties in marshy areas from 3500 to 7500 feet (5).

Uses
Wildlife: Cattails roots are an important food source for muskrats. Red-winged blackbirds, marsh wrens and other birds make their nests among cattails (3). Human: Cattail roots, shoots, and pollen are edible. Collected bundles of cattails have been found in archeological sites at Chaco canyon and at Canyon de Chelly. The Hopi have used cattail leaves in basket making (2). Pioneer settlers used cattail fluff for bedding (3), and cattails have been suggested for use as a modern food crop (6).

References
1. Brotherson, J.D. 1981. Aquatic and semiaquatic vegetation of Utah Lake and its bays. Great Basin Naturalist 5: 68-84.

2. Dunmire, W.W. and G.D. Tierney. 1997. Wild Plants and Native Peoples of the Four Corners. Museum of New Mexico Press. Santa Fe, NM. 312 pp.

3. Epple, A.O. 1995. A Field Guide to the Plants of Arizona. Falcon Press: Helena, MT. 347 pp.

4. Krenzer, E.G., D.N. Moss and R.K. Crookston. 1975. Carbon dioxide compensation points of flowering plants.Plant Physiology 56: 194-206.

5. McDougall, W.B. 1973. Seed Plants of Northern Arizona. Museum of Northern Arizona: Flagstaff, AZ. 594 pp.

6. Morton, J.F. 1975. Cattails (Typha spp.) - Weed problem or potential crop? Economic Botany 29: 7-29.

7. Smith, S.G. 1967. Experimental and natural hybrids in North American typha (Typhaceae). American Midland Naturalist 78(2): 257-287.

8. Yeo, R.R. 1964. Life history of the common cattail. Weeds 12: 284-288.